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To my sorrow, updating the website is currently frozen due to technical issues, although I actually have a lot of things to share right now.

Background: A short while ago, Russian spammers found a security leak in our ancient Joomla which allowed them to send spam mails with my name to other Russians via my server. So we had no other choice but to finally upgrade the software. A migration to the most recent Joomla failed several times, though, although we followed the instructions to a point. So we decided to take a step inbetween and for the time being upgraded to the final version of Joomla 2.5 (which is without support since the end of 2014, actually - due to all the illnesses, change of job and moving we really let this drag out!).

While that fixed the security leak, it brought new problems. The websites' skin was broken and isn't 100% fixed by now. Translations have become much more cumbersome because the translation module doesn't work right with this version. And - as I had to find out yesterday - all galleries stopped working on the English version of the website. I'm so sorry about that! We're trying to find the bug for a day now, but although we know now where the problem comes from we still can't fix it because we don't know WHY it happens. With 99% certainty this is another problem from the translation module.

Sadly my husband has a tight schedule this month, but we'll still try to migrate the website to Joomla 3 again on Feb. 18. It's quite possible that the website won't work that day and probably won't work 100% on the following days either. If the migration works this time we don't have to worry about this junk for some years - a Joomla 4 isn't likely to come out soon and we hope not every small update will create problems like these.Then I can finally fix some things on this website, especially for the international viewers.I don't want to think about what happens if we don't manage to get the migration done... Ugh.

Since we still haven't found a house to buy the year keeps being as stressful as the last and I still won't have that much time to work on this. I do my best.

Over here, things are chaotic, as usual. Perhaps you noticed how my website went bonkers for a day a while ago - that was our try to update Joomla to the latest version. Afterwards NOTHING worked anymore, no matter what we tried, so we kept uploading our backup and trying again. But nothing worked. After the update all translations were broken and depending on your browser everything was either German or English and the gallery was gone altogether.

By now we are on a middle version which seemingly only broke the skin, which my husband fixed quite quickly. But just now, when I wanted to work on the galleries and finally upload a bunch of photos, I had to notice that the translation buttons went missing. As I see now that's the case for articles, too. Oh Joy. So currently my only means of adding English translations is by cumbersome tricks and so I'm afraid I have to postpone all updates. :( Luckily my husband is on holiday now, so I hope he can take a look at that in a timely fashion.In any case, we'll try to upgrade to the newest Joomly again sometime soon, so don't be shocked if the website is a mess again one day. It can't stay technically in 2014 forever.In the worst case I'll have to find out in what way the multilangual feature of the new Joomly is supposed to work (their instructions are utterly bad, if you can find some at all!) and put in all English texts anew.

Overall the annual balance of this website is shockingly bad. Such few updates here! I'm mega displeased, especially since we still didn't find a house to buy so far! So next year we'll start house hunting right again, and thanks to the translation problem I can't even do some quick updates to better my stats before the year ends.

There are good news too, though! We bought a 3D printer which already helps me with the board game section. But not only that, it also is a tremendous help for the doll house and thus will help me continue Dolltopia! Finally I'm not dependent on my questionable talents with a fretsaw anymore, phew! I also have some plans for other sections, but I don't want to talk about that yet. Only downside is, I still have to learn a lot about my various 3D programs to make my own things instead of just downloading them.

Regarding board games, there will be quite some content later, because we got so many new games we haven't even tested them all yet!

Overall I only prepared stuff in the background lately, though. There is a new custom doll for Dolltopia in the works (for the first time I make shoes, oh my!), several dozen pieces of doll clothing were sewn or made to fit from other doll lines, I screen and restore old terrain pieces from our tabletop days for future games and as backgrounds for the galleries. Sometimes I even plug in the graphics tablet and draw a bit, but for the most part I paint miniatures and terrain. There's also roughly 10 articles about various topics which are still unpublished because I'm missing the photos for them. Oh well, next year I'll get them done! To be honest, there are also some articles which still need translation, as they are only available in German so far.

I was almost done cutting all miniatures for our freshly bought boardgame "Shadows of Brimstone" from their sprues and gluing them together, when we found a shop that still had some currently out of stock items in stock. And whoooooooooosh, my whole desk is lost under a pile of stuff again. Oh well!

Actually, I don't have anything substantial to tell today. We looked at another house that wasn't a match for us, we had a long weekend with a holiday that was ruined by constand noise from a festival, but who wants to read that?!

The new server runs like a charm, the old one will be shut down soon and so far we DIDN'T manage to upgrade this here website to the latest software version. There will definitely be some more hickups and downtimes while we have to test stuff. So no all-clear yet!

Still, I tinker a bit here and there, also to find more potential problems. (For instance, in the beginning I had no admin rights to upload photos to the system, he he.) But there's nothing super duper to tell about - our whole life wraps around hunting for a nice house and preparing to move.That I paint miniatures right now is actually just a shot at getting some old paint pots empty and get some order into the collection. I also crochet a bit to use up wool. I sew a bit to use up... you know. Somehow I do whatever I stumble over, and I don't have one ounce of free brain capacity to actually plan anything. I believe if finally find a house that matches us and is within budget I'll get a stroke. If I survive that and we're done moving, renovating and unpacking I guess I'll bother you all the time with countless updates. :P

Norplex had a great offer for us and my husband is busy setting up the new server. Since there's a lot to do we can't say for sure whether the data move will happen this weekend or someday in June. Three things are sure, though:

- Eph's Den of Many Things and ALL other websites on my server (so the KiSS Cafe and the various Sims sites) will be unavailable for a few hours, max. a few days until all nameservers know about the new IP. So if anything is unavailable, check back later - I don't close and everything will be back!

- It is possible that during the move emails will end up in nirvana. So if you send me a mail and don't recieve a reply within 2-3 days better send the mail again. You DON'T have to mail me to tell me that the website is gone. I know that myself in that moment and you mail won't reach me, anyway. ;)

- Eph's Den is supposed to be updated to a newer Joomla CMS. Since it's unsure whether that will work in a test system it's possible that this website will be slightly broken, weird etc while we work on it or have to test stuff. For a few things things may stay that way for several days, even.Once everything is fixed I will post an all-clear. If AFTER that you still run into problems and clearing your browser cache doesn't clear them up please let me now.This is ONLY for Eph's Den, the other websites will not be changed, codewise.

So much for that. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Apart from that there's not much to say. Lately there was a giant bunch of stuff in addition to the stressful house hunting, so I had even less time for the websites than expected. Emergency schedules for the trains messed up our everyday life and sleep routine equally, Bad Hoenningen already staged a few loud parties and completely ruined several holidays for us (even at night) and various hardware problems blocked my computer for several days each. First the scanner died, then the new one required a system upgrade to the newest Xubuntu for its drivers and then one of my harddrives failed. Luckily shit like that only happens every few years, so unless my monitor decides to die too things should be quiet for quite a while now. ^^Actually, I have quite some things HALF done but don't find the time to finish the other half, e.g. taking photos for an article. I still try to get some stuff done here and then. Currently most of my efforts centre around the board game section, most of which is only available in German (partly for now, partly forever), sorry. Let's see how things turn out in the near future. Please keep your patience with me. As for myself, I can't wait until we find a house or apartment, settle down and I won't need to use 2/3 of the day to declutter and look at house offers. Finally being creative again - what a dream! Currently... I'm packing moving boxes again to be prepared when we find something.

I wish you all very happy holidays and a great new year!Thanks to everyone who posted comments and supported me - most of all the biggest Seekers fan in the world, MJKJ, of course!

Time to think about the new year!

While I would have loved to do way more updates in 2016, the flooded cellar and some other things put a brutal stop to that. As I mentioned previously, we will intensify our efforts to buy a house next year and that means there will definitely be a lot of stuff that will gnaw at my time and energy. So for 2017, I keep it as with 2016 and promise nothing, so I can't disappoint later.Still, here's a bullet point prognosis of what will happen:

What will not happen:- Seekers- long stories- big new projects such as homebrewed campaigns for games etc- Sims - I don't quit, but right now I neither have time nor interest

What might happen:- fresh reworks of old Seekers artwork, new sketches- short stories (99% of them probably not in English, though)- photo funnies- old artwork of mine if I can find the bigger scans or the originals- generic board game material for print-out, like doors, markers or floor tiles

What will definitely happen:- Dolltopia- Dolltopia Outtakes- various tutorials and sewing patterns (yes, the groundwork is currently being done!)- photos of original (not customized) dolls- photos of painted metal and plastic miniatures- reviews of board games- various articles about dolls, doll house, modelling accessoires or whatever keeps me occupied at that time

Of course there's the possibility of one or more things surprisingly finding their way to the website, after all. Perhaps I can squeeze in one wish project or another and Giselda's fans can be happier than expected, or I get a sudden urge to spend a day making Sims stuff or drawing a Wacky Wingling. Perhaps we end up finding the perfect house promptly, though, and there'll be exactly zero time for anything between renovations, bank appointments and moving. We will see.What I know with absolute certainty though is, that the weekly board game sessions with my husband do wonders for me. Afterwards I'm always totally giddy and creative, which is great for my other hobbies. I'm a bit worried that my dolls are thrown under the bus right now a bit too much, but currently I divide my raising energy very well between all kinds of stuff, and the natural consequence of games was drawing comics and writing stories back in the day. so things looks quite well for the future, even though there are a few stumbling blocks in the way of moving and co. on the road first. That won't last. :)